New Dancer Guide for Adult dance classes

Beginners and New Dancers

Not only as a social and friendly way to introduce everyone in our dance community by changing partners , partner changes especially in our beginner’s classes, greatly improve how quickly and easily pupils learn.

If both you and your partner are new to dancing it can be more difficult to learn and practice your steps together than it would be if each danced with more experienced dancers. This is why many couples prefer to spend class time dancing with many different people and spend time practicing the steps they’ve learnt with their partner in a dance social.

Beginners would first be learning basic steps, directions and timings. Learning to lead, follow and work with a dancing partner is a skill in itself and will come after learning dance steps with experience and practice. Some of our experience students will want to stay to help and encourage beginners.( Every experienced dancer remembers their first time at a dance class and being focused and enthusiastic in learning their own steps, directions and timing while being less aware of how to help their dance partner. )

Experienced dancers

Changing partners can be fun and social for dancers; more experienced dancers can still improve their dancing with other dance partners in different ways. There is benefit of using the same dance partner as you dance better if you become comfortable with a person but it can also mean regular partners can go into “autopilot” with their steps and put themselves into positions without a lead or follow. It can also lead to unconsciously compensating for habits of a partner, technique, step size, musicality and more. A common sentiment amongst dance professionals is that you can never truly learn to lead or follow without dancing with a variety of people. Different people will react differently in any situation and this give a much greater understanding of a role in any partner dance.

It’s completely optional and anyone’s choice of decision that can be changed at any time. Some couples prefer to stay together, while others enjoy the social aspect of dancing with others or might enjoy helping and encouraging beginners.

Dance shoes are recommended for all of our dancers. Speak to one of our teachers if you would like any advice on what type of shoe or where to buy dance shoes from. However nobody is expecting a new beginner to own a pair of dance shoes if they have not been dancing for long.

Footwear to avoid: -Anything that can move around on the foot such as sandals or flip-flops. -Certain types of boots or anything that’s going to restrict movement of the foot -Rubber soles should be avoided, however some indoor trainers can be fine. If you can’t turn your foot on the floor when bodyweight is over that foot, there would be a risk of twisting your ankle when dancing.

There isn’t a dress code for any of the dancing classes. Only wear what would be practical for a dance class; clothes that will not come loose from movement or restrict body movement. You should be able to stand with your feet twice shoulder width apart without clothing being uncomfortable, restrictive or pulling the knees closer.

None of our adult dancing classes have term fees. All of the adults dancing classes including the dance courses are run on pay on the door basis. (Before or after the session) We generally can only accept cash for most classes or events unless it is an event that requires tickets.

Generally to be fair to our students, we keep our classes open for amateur dancers only. Plenty of special exceptions have been made if we have been contacted prior. If you are an active dance teacher, dance assistant (or have been in the past) regardless if it’s a different dance style you will be expected to notify us before joining any of our classes or events in accordance to common practice outlined in every major dance organisation in the UK.

We also offer private lessons for the purpose of teacher training qualifications and general dance training for dance professionals and also amateur dancers.

We kindly ask you to ask for permission before bringing any promotional material to our classes or events out of respect to the hardworking efforts of our dance teachers. We host classes and events to share our passion for dancing with like-minded people who come to dance. We already currently host our own charity events in aid of chosen local charities. We can neither; promote every charity event or be unfair to say yes to some, no to others. Therefore we chose to focus our efforts on the local charities we raise money in aid of and promote our charity events. We welcome any suggestions for charities to help support.

It’s important to arrive before the class starts. This will allow time to find the venue and where to park if you are driving. You also want to arrive before the start time for the class to be able to change shoes and pay admission. Some of the classes can be very popular and coming last minute can mean queuing at the front desk.  It also allows our teachers time to introduce themselves and to give you any important information about the classes before the lesson begins.

When arriving early

When arriving early and a private lesson or class is in session; it’s completely fine to enter the room, take a seat , relax and change shoes as long as it’s not disruptive. This is common place with all of our classes. We never have any issues from people entering as our students are always polite and respectful. We rarely have any gaps of empty time between classes or privates due to fitting in as many students as we can with the high demand. Everyone who has a private lesson before a dance class has chosen that time understandably knowing people will be entering the room at the next class 5-10minutes before the end of their private lesson.